After the Mayan Ball Game
by srebak
Summary: An AU look at the events of "Me Oh Maya" and how boys got out of that situation


After the Mayan Ball Game

It was most definitely an eventful and interesting chain of events for the trio of time-traveling boys; Joe, Fred and Sam, which is actually saying a great deal, when one considers all that they've been through in the past already. However, "interesting" and "eventful" do not, necessarily, mean good. For you see; one minute, the group of young boys was just playing a simple game of basketball, then the next; they were warped all of the way back to the days of the Ancient Maya, where another ball game quite important to their culture was going on. A very important figure within the Mayan hierarchy, Kakapupahet, was ready to use this as an excuse to have the three of them killed on the spot, but, circumstances led to the three boys making quite the impression on the Mayan general public. Still though, the scheming Kakapupahet was still able to use lies and deceit to put the trio in a very dangerous situation; he had them all tied up to a tree deep within the jungle, where they were to await the strike of a hungry jaguar. And, if that wasn't bad enough for the trio of young time-travelers, even if there was a good chance that the boys would not have their bodies feasted upon by a hungry jungle cat, Kakapupahet himself promised to be back later in secret to check up on the three of them. If the jaguars hadn't finished the boys off by then, Kakapupahet would open all of their chests with a knife and carved out all of their hearts right then and there.

Things were looking very grim for the boys at that point in deed, but, fortune happened to show its face to them at this time via the timely arrival of Kakapupahet's niece, a young Mayan girl named Chune. Now, Chune and her mother have both had their share of trouble with Kakapupahet in the past, especially since he had already used lies and deceit to have his brother and Chune's father executed out of jealousy. And because of this as well as more trouble courtesy of Kakapupahet, Chune and her mother were both forced into a simple life within the countryside as common farmers. They were both quite sympathetic towards Joe, Fred and Sam, and both offered their help to the three of them in any way that they could; food, shelter and general safety from Kakapupahet. The boys were all grateful for all of their acts of kindness and even attempted to help pull their weight when it came to the farming, regardless of how difficult it was for them. Still though, with their magic time traveling book out of their possession, the boys were all up a creek without a paddle, and they had no plan for how they were going to remedy the situation, that is until Chune's mother told them the story of the legendary Ball playing twins who challenged the Lords of the Underworld.

Seeing this as an opportunity to "come back from the dead" as it were in order to retrieve their book and repay Chune and her mother for their aid by taking down Kakapupahet, the boys arranged it so that they could challenge Kakapupahet to a ballgame (after Chune showed them how). And since the king was currently there, Kakapupahet had no choice but to accept the challenge, much to the boys' delight. However, there were two major issues with the boys' plan: 1.) if they lost the game, the punishment would be their final execution, and 2.) while the boys' team consisted of Joe and Fred, who were both very good at sports, with Sam as the alternate player, and Kakapupahet was initially a very poor ball player, the latter had at least one last trick up his sleeve; a very strong and very skilled Mayan acting as his teammate. Still though, the boys went on ahead with the game, seeing as this was their last chance to get out of this mess, and Fred and Joe were both prepared to put everything that they had into this game. Unfortunately though, their best was, apparently, not good enough to help them, since Kakapupahet and his skilled teammate almost immediately took the lead. As fast and strong as Fred and Joe were for their respective ages and as much as Chune had tried to help them, their opponents were just that much stronger, that much faster and that much more skilled. The boys clearly did not stand a chance against them, it was only a matter of time before they .would lose the game and their heads, if their opponents didn't break their bones before then that is.

Or at least that's how it would have gone had things remained the way that they were going. But, then, in fate's ultimate act of cruelty towards the boys, Kakapupahet's team managed to get the ball through the sideways hoop, which, by the rules of the game and their culture, made them the automatic winners. There was way around it; Joe, Fred and Sam; they were all finished now and they knew it. Chune and her mother were both hoping with all of their hearts that the boys would win the game, but not for the rewards that they would reap as a result though. No, they wanted them to win because of two much deeper reasons: 1.) because after what had happened to Chune's father, they didn't want to see more people close to them die because of Kakapupahet, and 2.) because they wanted their new friends to be able to get out of this mess that they were in. But, now, all of their hopes and prayers were immediately dashed to pieces by the rocks of life, as all that they could both do now was watch helplessly as Joe, Fred and Sam were all presented before the Mayan general public, after being apprehended and dragged before them with their hands tied mere seconds right after the game was over, where they were to await their execution. Kakapupahet and his teammate were the ones given the honor of carrying out the sentence, and, one by one, starting with Fred (whom Kakapupahet was fed up with for making fun of his name way too much) they chopped off the trio's heads and allowed their decapitated bodies to collapse to the ground, a sight that everyone was allowed to see. Chune and her mother were both horrified to see all of this and if that wasn't enough for them to endure, Kakapupahet announced that he would have the now silenced hearts of the three boys carved out of their chests and placed on display on three pikes as a symbol of his victory the three.

If Chune and her mother thought Kakapupahet was a savage before, they were even more certain of it now. Still though, in order to avoid any more trouble at his hands, the two of them fled back into the countryside to hide. However, now, Chune was focused on something very important: on way or another, she was going to do something to help her now dead friends.


End file.
